1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cooking utensils and more particularly to apparatus for cooking pizza.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Over the last forty years pizza has become an increasingly popular food item both in the United States and in many other parts of the world. It is now widely consumed, and it is reported that annual yearly consumption in the United States now exceeds one billion pounds.
Nutritionally, pizza has many advantages since its taste is widely popular and, in a single food item, it can provide many necessary nutrients, including complex carbohydrates, vegetables, milk products and proteins. Another advantage of pizza is that it may also be prepared from relatively low cost ingredients.
Notwithstanding the relatively low cost of its ingredients, the cost of pizza to the consumer is often relatively high since a significant proportion of pizza consumed is prepared in commercial establishments. Such commercial establishments generally prepare pizza in large relatively high temperature pizza ovens.
Pizza can also be prepared, generally at a lower cost than the commercial product, in generally lower temperature home kitchen ovens, but many persons consider pizza prepared in this way to be inferior in quality to the commercially available product. It is found, for example, that pizzas prepared in home ovens are often excessively dried out and overcooked on their sides and undercooked on their insides. Furthermore, when pizza is prepared in a home kitchen it is necessary that an entire oven be heated and then generally allowed to cool in order to prepare a single pizza. In commercial establishments, on the other hand, pizza is usually prepared on a relatively continuous basis so that the repeated heating and cooling of an oven is not required. Home preparation of the pizza may, therefore, be considered relatively energy inefficient.
In view of the above, it is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for preparing pizza which produces pizza which is at least comparable in quality to the commercially available product. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an energy efficient apparatus and method for preparing pizza in the home.